70 Miscellaneous Poems.

Then, my dear Host, thou shalt in private learnSome certain Things, which thee and me concernIt shall no Mortal but yourself avail;

Then fetch a Winchester os mighty Ale.

And now when both had drank an equal Share,

Cries Nicholas, sit down and draw your Chair, ■

But first, sweet Landlord, you must take an Oath,

To no Man living to betray the Troth :

For, trust me, what I’m going to relateIs Revelation, and as sure as Fate:

And if you tell, this Vengeance will ensue,

No Hare in March will be so mad as you.

Nay, quoth mine Host, I am no Blab, not I,

And hang me, if you catch me in a Lie.

I would not tell, tho’ ’twere to save my Life,

To Chick, or Child, to Man, or Maicl, or Wife.

Now, John, quoth Nicholas, I will not hideWhat by my Art I have of late descry'd ;

How, as I por’d upon fair Cynthia's Light,

Should fall on Monday next, at Quarter-Night,

A Rain so sudden, and so long to boot,

That Noah's Flood was but a Spoonful to't.

This World, within the Compass of an HourShall all be drown’d ; so hideous is the Shovv’r,

As will the Cattle and Mankind devour.

Cries then this silly Man, Alas, my Wife 1My Bosom-Comfort, and my better Life!

And must lhe drown and perish with the rest ?

My Alison, the Darling of my Breast ?

At this well nigh he swoon’d, o’erwhelm’d with GriefsFetch’d a deep Sigh, And is there no Relief,

No Remedy, he cry’d, no Succour left ?

Are we, alas! of ev’ry Hope bereft ?

No, by no Means, quoth this designing Clerk,

Be of good Heart, and by Instruction work ;

For if by Nicholas you will be led,

And build no Castles in your own wild Head,

None